A critical reading of W.D Valgardson’s short story, “Identities,” demonstrates numerous basic elements of fiction which provide a deeper understanding of the story. Firstly, the character of this story is a white, wealthy man, which according to the story, has an office in his house and leads an unhappy marriage. The protagonist of the story is trying to understand people and he is remembering his old childhood memories. For example, the raconteur says that “the smell of burning leaves stirs the memories of childhood car rides, narrow lanes adrift with yellow leaves, girls on plodding horses, unattended stands piled high with pumpkins, onions, beets, so that each one was, in its own way, a still life”(4). In detail, the character is thinking of the old roads full of colorful leaves and shelves full of fruits, where he used to pass through when he was a kid. Secondly, the plot of this story begins with the man -the protagonist of the story- which always goes out smooth-shaved and is trying to separate his work and home life, hence he abruptly leaves his house with one -day old beard. The rising action starts when he, unfortunately, gets lost in his childhood area because it has turned into a dilapidation and he realizes that, he is passing through an unsafe area. He decides to return when he sees the traffic lights, but it is too late to turn back. The protagonist suddenly remembers that his wife does not know where he has gone and decides to call her from the first place he can. Hence, he speeds up and misses the police car on the street corner. He reaches a store and puts ten dollars in his pocket and slowly gets off the car. To point out, “he slips his wallet into his shirt pocket, does up the metal buttons on his jacket and slips a ten-dollar bill into his back pocket” (6) and thinks in this way, he can protect himself from the group on the street . In other words, the narrator says, he tries to do what is safe, to get out of the car. The climax in this story is where the officer is not experienced and judges him by his appearance and while he is reaching for his identity, he shoots him and he dies.The man thinks he is safe in that area when he sees the policeman The readers do not get informed about what happens to the man or how his family finds out about his death, so we do not quite have a denouement. Thirdly, there are 2 main conflicts evident in the short story. The first is person versus person, and the second is person versus self. There is an external conflict between the protagonist and the officer. For instance, there is a conflict where “he does not feel fear but relief” when he sees the police and the officer who thinks the man is a thief who has stolen a car and shoots him. To clarify, the man is struggling with an external factor (the officer) and by the wrong judgment he gets killed. Additionally, there is an internal conflict between the narrator and himself. For example, when the childhood story “wakes in him a desire to temporarily abandon the twice-cut yards and hundred-year-old-oaks,”(4) he is dealing with balancing his life. In detail, there is a conflict where he is trying to separate his mental life and work-life from each other and knows that his absence might be a disaster when he returns home. In addition, point of view is another important part of the fiction. The point of view of this story is omniscient third person, because the narrator knows the officer’s and the man’s feelings and thoughts.
